Saturday, December 15, 2012

The hit web TV show that I'm directing, Singapore Haunted continues to get more and more press coverage. This time, we are on Malaysian newspaper theSun! You can read the article here (e-paper version). It's not everyday, my show is mentioned on the same page as the Hobbit! Heh. In it, I answered some questions posed by the paper.

Here are two of the questions.

theSun: In this day and age, why are people still so fascinated by the paranormal?

IZ: I think people are generally fascinated by the paranormal and that's why our show Singapore Haunted is popular. Also, it is because the show deals with a subject matter that we, as human beings, are so curious about. Everybody has a fascination with the unknown. It's a constant journey towards finding the truth.

theSun: How did you become interested and involved in this field?

IZ: I've always been fascinated by the unknown. And everyone grows up listening to ghost stories and I'm no different, but I was a bit sceptical. A few years ago, I had a chance to produce and direct a special to promote a paranormal show for Discovery Channel, and it involved a team of investigators doing paranormal investigation. I was totally blown away by the findings, and the viewership for that special was really amazing. So when we founded R3LOAD Network, I knew right away that we needed to produce a show that can help debunk or prove the many different haunting stories we have in Singapore. That's how Singapore Haunted was born.

The world's most favorite lounge chair and ottoman is finally weather-proof! Charles the Chair is made entirely out of concrete by Singapore furniture outfit Fred Lives Here. They sell iconic furniture and homeware for people who enjoy modern classics, bespoke items, or things that are just plain cool.

Jessica teaches us how to make these adorable Charlie Brown Christmas ornaments that look like cookies that look like ornaments. She writes: "Cut out the felt shapes. From the ornament shape, cut 6 peach, 5 white and one each red yellow and blue. Each ornament will have a front and back main piece."

Christmas is coming so enjoy this collection of animated Christmas Gifs, a festive showcase of animated gifs created by an international group of illustrators, animators and directors. Lots of gems including this Santarina that transforms into a green skull.

Jenn Mann originally made this LED Space Helmet for a David Bowie themed Halloween party. It became a hit so she decided to make more and sell them. She writes: "LEDs are arranged around the inside back of the helmet so it glows from the inside. The back of the helmet is painted solid white."

XinMSN news story about the Michael Palmer affair featuring top quotes from the likes of Mr Brown and me: "A local tabloid exposed 33-year-old Laura Ong Hui Hoon's lurid text messages to Palmer and identified Laura as Palmer's lover. Laura was the former constituency director of Pasir Ris West Constituency Office." You can follow me on Twitter here.

Dude who is an expert in recycled art builds this model of the X-Wing Starfighter using Kaiser beer cans! The X-wing is the primary interceptor and dogfighter of the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic in the Star Wars universe. It was famously piloted by Luke Skywalker.

YourFlask is an Etsy shop that sells specialized flasks for your drinking pleasures like this R2D2 hip flask that has the image of the popular droid on both sides of the flask. The 6oz flask fits easily into your jeans or jacket pockets and is a must have when you travel the galaxy far far away.

Beer lovers will love this! The Beeracuda is an over-the-shoulder beer holder. The liquid lunch box stores five cold cans of beer in the insulated sleeve, and a sixth can on the koozie-enhanced shoulder strap. Don't leave home without it.

Here's a really cool way to attract the attention of the person you wanna friend on Facebook. Casinoroy on his FB Profile Pic Replication project: "After finding people with the same name as me, I'd replicate their profile pic and seed them a friend request."

This made in Japan toy of a X-ray Ronald McDonald clown has a transparent body which shows off the inner body parts. Yes, you can see all the bones and not surprisingly, there are also hamburgers below the ribs. What else will Ronald McDonald eat right?

Now you can fix your bike and cut your steak with your iPhone! Task One is the first Multi-tool for the iPhone. It houses 16 tools in an aircraft aluminum enclosure mounted to your phone via two polycarbonate bands. It has a 2.5" knife, saw, pliers wire cutters and more.

Classic Match Foosball is an iPad accessory that lets you experience playing foosball on your iPad! Download the free app and you are ready to play the Classic Match Foosball game. The accessory is a working foosball gametable that pairs working 2 axis control bars with tactile elastomer handles while transforming your iPad into a foosball table.

Friday, December 07, 2012

This image from NASA's EOSDIS shows the light pollution generated by Singapore. EOSDIS provides the capability to interactively browse full-resolution, global, near real-time satellite imagery allowing us to view at the entire Earth as it looks "right now" - or at least as it has looked within the past few hours.

And here's a beautiful view of Earth at night from space constructed using cloud-free night images from a new NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite. The video shows the glow of natural and human-built phenomena across the planet in greater detail than ever before.

Monday, December 03, 2012

Look who's on the front page of AsiaOne on Saturday? Me! The new episode of Singapore Haunted is getting some good media coverage. In Singapore Haunted Yellow Tower Revisited Special, I sent the team back to the Yellow Tower at East Coast Park to gather more evidence of the ghost of the girl that was gang raped and murdered there many years ago.

Here's the AsiaOne report: "According to Singapore Haunted, a voice said 'Home' when investigators asked the entity why she didn't leave the place.
The entity also replied 'Young' when asked how old she was when she died at the tower."

Yes, we're on the front page of Stomp too! Read the Stomp report here: "A team of local paranormal investigators claims to have captured the thermal image of a ghostly figure which is said to haunt the Yellow Tower at East Coast Park... The team from Singapore Haunted, a popular web TV series featuring a group of paranormal investigators exploring some of the most haunted locations in the country."

You can now play the classic Dune II game online for free! Dune II was the archetypical "real-time strategy" game. Striking a balance between complexity and innovation, the game laid the foundation for the coming Command & Conquer, Warcraft and StarCraft series, and many other RTS games.

When not making cakes, Annabel de Vetten of Conjurer's Kitchen is an amateur magician. When's she not doing magic, she creates unique cakes and other delicious goodies. One of her creations is these commissioned creepy looking baby heads made from solid white chocolate. I love white choc but who wants to eat it in this form?

If you are a fan of poker and you want to play the game on your Android smartphone, then you should check out Strip Poker - Eva Angelina. This game has been deemed as one of the most underrated mobile poker games in the market but if you're looking for a typical poker game then this is something that's definitely for you.

Strip Poker - Eva Angelina have a simple rule - amass $201 or more and the gorgeous dealer will start stripping. For those of you who are expecting her to strip all the way to nudity, you will be disappointed. Yup, no nudes! But hey it says Strip Poker right? Well I guess you guys have to wait for a version where she strips all the way.
If you are an android phone user you can download the game for free here.

Repaint artist Noel Cruz thinks celebrity dolls aren't lifelike so he repaints them! Here he describes the art: "Repaint is a new form of pop art, wherein the doll's face is treated like a three dimensional canvas, with the added challenge of painting within a very small area and an even greater challenge of recreating a real person's likeness."

Thanks to OCEARCH's Global Shark Tracker, you can now observe the navigational pattern of sharks that have been tagged with satellite tracking technology all for the purpose of shark conservation. When a shark's fin tag breaks the surface and a satellite is over head, you'll get a ping. The system can detect the radius to within 250 meters.

Larry Gormley has spent 5 years to create The History of Film wall chart which chronicles the history of feature films from the origins in the 1910s until the present day. More than 2000 of the most important feature-length films are mapped into 20 genres spanning 100 years.

The Pixel Trade is a photographic project by international freelance photographer Shantanu Starick. He travels around the world without using money by trading his services for a few days, photographing any subject, in return for food, shelter and transport.

Even the rocking chair needs an upgrade. The iRock is a rocking chair with a self sufficient iPad dock and sound station. Regular rocking will add +35% to the duration of the battery of your iPad. 2 x 25w speakers enables you to enjoy your favorite songs while rocking. The iRock is handcrafted out of Swedish pine wood and comes in 5 Different colors.

As Seen On

Creator of hit show Singapore Haunted. Spurs fan, experienced astronomer and occasional ITK. I.Z. Reloaded covers news, pop culture, blogs, websites, gadgets, the fascinating and the weird from a Singapore perspective. The blog is a runner up in both the 2006 Weblog Awards (Best Asia Blog) and the 2004 Asia Blog Awards (Best Singapore Blog). Contact him at izreloaded[at]gmail[dot]com.